Annual Report

Gender Equity Center 2021 - 2022 Annual Report

Highlights of the Past Year

We built out our capacity to a fully staffed office for the first time in four years. This includes a designated full-time Survivor Advocate, a new Director, Program Coordinator, Assistant Director, and Administrative Assistant. This includes three staff who provide advocacy and crisis intervention services to students on an individual basis. 

Our office also received grant funding from the Pennsylvania Governor's office to enhance peer education and prevention programming through the implementation of the "It's On Us Penn State" campaign. This campaign consists of messaging, outreach, and peer-led educational workshops delivered through innovative intersectional programming aimed at eliminating all forms of oppression that contribute to the perpetration and continuation of violence. 

We also made our physical space more welcoming for students. In addition to displaying student artwork and activist projects, we added a lounge area with a sofa and a free Mini Library for student use. Further, we became a Lion Cub Pantry, to ensure food is more accessible to students who need it. 

Students Served

The total number of individual students served in one-on-one meetings, advocacy, and support was 172. Of this number, 69 students met with staff for two to five sessions, and 10 of them met with staff for six or more sessions. 

Further, 16 of these students were from campuses other than University Park and 160 of them identified as victim survivors, with the rest identifying as friends or witnesses. 

The types of interpersonal violence experienced by the above students varied with the most students experiencing sexual violence (74), 19 experiencing sexual harassment, 15 dating violence, five each of gender harassment and stalking, and four who experienced sexual exploitation. Further, 155 of the students who we served were female, 15 were male, and two were gender nonconforming. Additionally, 159 were undergraduates and 11 were graduate students. Lastly, our numbers of those served increased tremendously as the year progressed, going from 51 students served in the fall semester to 121 students served in the spring semester. 

Educational Programs and Peer Education 

Over the course of the year, our education team conducted 275 classes which reached 8684 attendees. These classes included topics on sexual violence, relationship violence, sexual harassment, bias and bystander intervention, and more. This included 30 Stand for State Programs (653 attendees), and 245 Gender Equity Programs (8,031 attendees). Further, 1644 students participated in our 6-week long Greeks Care Peer Educational program, and we conducted 18 sessions, reaching 130 students through the It's On Us Peer Education workshops. 

Awareness Programs, Keynote Speakers, and Events 

In addition to the above classes, the Center conducted 45 separate programs reaching 5628 attendees, welcomed eight expert keynote speakers, and partnered and collaborated with 28 different offices and organizations to provide the best possible programming to students. Some of these partners included Online Education and Outreach, Penn State Finance and Business, the Bike Den, the Rock Ethics Institute, the Center for the Performing Arts, and the Eberly College of Science Climate and Diversity Committee. 

Additional Information 

The above is a summary of our annual report for year-end 6/30/22. If you would like to see the full report, please contact the Gender Equity Center at genderequity@psu.edu so one can be emailed to you.